Read Online Yeny and the Children for Peace by Michelle Mulder - Free Book Online Page B

for a few moments, and then Yeny had an idea. The others would probably think it was pretty dumb—especially Joaquin—but nobody else was making suggestions, and some idea was better than nothing. “What if we ask the grupos armados not to be violent that day?”
    Sure enough, she heard a few snorts of laughter. But Celia glared at the snorters so angrily that they fell silent immediately.
    Rocio was standing next to Yeny. She didn’t laugh, but she didn’t look convinced either. “Grown-ups have been asking the grupos armados to stop the violence for ages. Why would they listen to us?”
    â€œBecause we’re
kids,”
said Yeny, trying to sound like she didn’t care about people laughing at her. “Because they probably have children too, and we’re doing such a good job of spreading the word that some of those kids will probably come to the election. And their parents wouldn’t want anything to happen to
them.”
    â€œWe’ve got nothing to lose by trying, right?” Celia said. “Maybe we could send them letters.”
    â€œBut where will we send the letters?” Elena asked. “You can’t just write grupo armado on an envelope and take it to the post office.”
    Yeny scowled. Now Elena was making her look silly.
    â€œAnd do we all have to write?” asked the girl in pigtails. “It takes me forever to write anything. I’d rather do something else.”

    â€œAnd where are we going to get the supplies from, anyway?” called someone from the back. “Some of us barely have enough for our schoolwork.”
    â€œOkay, okay,” Celia said, pulling her notebook and a pen from her back pocket. “Let’s think about this for a minute.” She chewed on her pen lid. “Who can bring us paper, pen, and envelopes?”
    A few hands went up. Celia asked for names, scribbled them down, and asked for five people who would be part of a letter-writing team. More hands rose, and she scribbled down more names. “Now what else do we need?”
    â€œThe names of who to write to,” Elena said, still looking unconvinced.
    This time, no one raised a hand to suggest anything. The crowd was silent.
    â€œWell,” said Celia, “who would be in contact with the groups? And who do we know who might know them?”
    More silence. Then a boy at the back said, “What about journalists? They have to talk to the groups to be able to write about them, right? Does anyone know any journalists?”
    â€œMy dad knows a guy who works for the newspaper,” said one of the girls in the high school uniforms. “We could ask him for suggestions.”
    Again Celia’s pen flew over the paper. “These are great ideas.Together, we know hundreds of people, and I bet someone will be able to help us out.”
    Suddenly, everybody started talking at once. “My uncle might know someone at the radio station.” “My mother works for a TV channel.” “I bet that newspaper reporter who talked to our class last year would help. Wasn’t that Oscar’s older brother?” Within seconds, everyone seemed to know someone who could help.
    Only Yeny was silent. She’d never know as many people in the city as she did in the village.
    The brainstorming session went on so long that Yeny was relieved when Celia changed the subject. “The other thing we need to do is to start making signs for the election. I know someone with a photocopier who’s going to send me big stacks of ballots—the little pieces of paper you use to vote—but we need people to help with other things.” She flipped to a new page of her notebook and held her pen ready.
    Minutes later, Yeny had agreed to find cardboard for signs, help look for voting tables, and go to the radio station with Juan to ask if they could help spread the word about the election. She wondered whether word of the vote would reach